Corset design also changed during the Victorian period - up until then, the corset really only came down as far as the ribcage. It wasn't until bustles came into fashion (and steel became available) that corsets starting being an "arrow" shape, covering the entire stomach and hip area. They just didn't have the construction materials to make them like that before the 1850's (1860's?). So a pregnant woman could wear a corset several months into the pregnancy without too much trouble, as long as she didn't lace it as tightly.

ummm the link I posted up-thread was a reproduction of a corset Elizabeth the first wore.

Ok, to expand on the rearview mirror thing, so it doesn't reflect back to the car behind you thereby letting them know they need to turn their brights off? Maybe that was always just wishful thinking on my part. But, I kinda wondered if they could tell that I'd had to "mute" their lights.

The car behind you may see the reflection if they are paying close attention.

But I have driven with someone who has *ahem* problems with manners and road rage. If he was paying attention, it was because he was trying to bother you with the lights. People like that aren't going to lower them.

Logged

You are only young once. After that you have to think up some other excuse.

Corset design also changed during the Victorian period - up until then, the corset really only came down as far as the ribcage. It wasn't until bustles came into fashion (and steel became available) that corsets starting being an "arrow" shape, covering the entire stomach and hip area. They just didn't have the construction materials to make them like that before the 1850's (1860's?). So a pregnant woman could wear a corset several months into the pregnancy without too much trouble, as long as she didn't lace it as tightly.

ummm the link I posted up-thread was a reproduction of a corset Elizabeth the first wore.

the front V comes almost down to the crotch.

with regard to corsets - designs and fashions varied wildly from 'station to station' so to speak - Royalty and members of the Court in England would have worn vastly different corsetry to that of your everyday non-noble, and then French fashion was different again.

I may be mistaken, but I believe the reason Elizabeth I wore long-line corsets was to emphasize the fact that she wasn't pregnant - and didn't intend to produce any heirs? They were certainly available, but before steel was widely available they would be made of whalebones (read= very very expensive) and so minor nobles would have worn shorter corsetry simply because it was cheaper to buy three whalebones and have them hewn to shorter lengths to pinch in just the waist, whereas royalty would have had a half dozen sets of bone at their disposal to make long-line garments.

There's that saying about rats leaving a sinking ship - does that say more about the ship or about the rats?

I mean, does it mean that the metaphorical "ship" is going down or that the people leaving it are rats?

Regarding menstruation:I read that in ancient Egypt the tampon was debuted when high-class women began sticking bits of cotton inside.There is that book "The Red Tent" by Anita Diamant - the title references the tent that women were confined to during their period. IIRC, they would sit on straw mats which were later burned.

True. But if you want to quote something earlier than what is available from the most recent replies page . . . Say that there's a 4-pg thread and you want to quote someone from Pg 2 . . . Is there a way to do this? Once you're in "reply" mode?

You mean like this?

Right above the smilies in the reply mode, there is a quote button. I just copy and paste the part of the conversation I want to quote between the code that the button puts in for me. I'm sure that's clear as mud.

Continuing the 'rag' questions - what is the 'belt' Margaret uses in "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret"? I'm probably showing my age here, but that's the only place I've ever heard of it.

Before the days of the pads with adhesive on the bottom to hold them to your underwear, you had to use a "belt". Basically it was similar to a garter belt except it had the strings in the middle instead of on the sides. The pads had a tail on the front and back that went through a loop on the string to hold them in place.

I have to interrupt to say I'm disappointed the newer editions of the book changed from the belt to adhesives. It was such an interesting glimpse of what women had available as "recent" as the 1970's. I'm glad to have an older copy.

Corset design also changed during the Victorian period - up until then, the corset really only came down as far as the ribcage. It wasn't until bustles came into fashion (and steel became available) that corsets starting being an "arrow" shape, covering the entire stomach and hip area. They just didn't have the construction materials to make them like that before the 1850's (1860's?). So a pregnant woman could wear a corset several months into the pregnancy without too much trouble, as long as she didn't lace it as tightly.

ummm the link I posted up-thread was a reproduction of a corset Elizabeth the first wore.

the front V comes almost down to the crotch.

Corsets changed as waistlines changed. The earlier corsets (circa 1520) came to the natural waist because that's where the gown waist was. Elizabethan court wear was not safe to bend in (although away from court everything was less exaggerated). By 1610 high waists were in and the corset moved with it. Back down over the 17th and 18th centuries, up in the early 1800s, back down starting in the 1840s and drifting lower and lower until the early 1900s when they came down sometimes over the buttocks before mostly disappearing in the 1920s. How a corset affected pregnancy had a whole lot to do with the fashions for non-pregnant women.